


The Dutch Room

by Skaidridt



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Based on a real heist, F/M, Interesting OCs(!) with character (!), Mafia NCT, Organized crime (not mafia!!) still cool tho, Prostitution, This is about art forgery, Unplanned Pregnancy, mafia au sort of, no Y/N !
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:19:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28636887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaidridt/pseuds/Skaidridt
Summary: Jaehyun is the head of a team of organized criminals in disguise who are stealing, forging and selling art.Haechan is the most chatterbox secretary there is.Taeil owns a hostess bar.And Yuta owns a chain of top-class omakase restaurants they will use to launder money.This is based on the heist called the “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft” taking place in 1990. It remains unsolved until today.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

“Why are you standing there just like this? Explain yourself.”

“I…” Lucas’ voice appeared in some ways smaller than it used to. He _was_ a confident man. Very confident indeed. Yet every time he stood in front of his boss he seemed to lose a lot of that self-exaltation some people honestly envied him for. Especially on that day. 

After gaining the guts to talk he continued: “I … assume you already know.”

Jaehyun looked at the man standing in front of him. His appearance was usually a mark of flawlessness and a consciousness of clothing that only came with a certain income. But on that day the man in his office and his suit reflected the reason he was here for.

“What I know”, Jaehyun began still seated behind the heavy desk. “is that you had a drink or two with two of your colleagues. What I don’t know - hence what I want you to tell me - is how those _drinks_ cost me an unthinkable amount of money.”

“I am honestly sincerely sorry for what happened.” Lucas began but Jaehyun didn’t let him finish. He did not interrupt Lucas in any way. Just the way he still sat there not moving an inch and keeping his calm gave Lucas chills to the point his voice died.

“You know I don’t have an actual dislike for you. I never did. I actually thought you meant what you said by the time I hired you.”

“I did! I mean”, Lucas shook his head heavily and one could tell he was still not entirely sobered up. “I still do! Your goal is still my goal!”

Jaehyun stood up and moved smoothly and calm around the table. “Then why exactly did you had the urge to act this careless _once again_?”

“I-“

He now stood next to Lucas, who didn’t turn around and still faced the, by that time, empty chair. 

“What was it that made you have too many drinks and still get in the car to drive god knows where? Does working with us or being the son of your father make you think you get to play to a different set of rules than anyone else?” His voice was as calm as it has been the entire time but the choice of words made Lucas break into cold sweat.

“Did being a person of even so little public interest make you think causing a car accident, while driving so highly intoxicated one might wonder how you even made it _to_ the car, is the okay thing to do? You would get away with it and not cause not only a scandal for you and your fathers company but only make it _impossible_ for me to proceed with our plan?”

Lucas swallowed heavily not daring to say a word.

“What your little joyride caused - I don’t know if you’re aware - is that the feds are up you’re father butt, determined to find _anything_ useful to shut his business down and him being your father and you being you I don’t even have the slightest doubt they’re being crowned with success. Which means I can’t launder the money with your now worthless _soon-to-be-yours_ company and you cost me a shitload of money.”

Silence filled the room.

After a few seconds Jaehyun finally sighed.

“You know what else that means?”

Lucas turned around his head to look at his superior and the second their eyes met each other Jaehyun suddenly grabbed his head with a firm grasp and smashed Lucas’ temple onto the edge of the desk he was still standing infront.

His heavy body hit the floor with a hollow noise. He didn’t twitch and didn’t breathe either.

Jaehyun had lost his temper. He cursed to himself and bit his lip just the second the door to his office opened and Doyoung entered the room. Since two walls of their offices were made of glass, the windows and the one facing the hallway, he must have seen it all. Or at least the very end of Lucas but he didn’t say anything.

Jaehyun walked up to him, stopping right next to him asking in a commanding and clear yet trusting voice:

“Do you got this?”

Doyoung, still looking at the body answered in his usual brusquely business tone. 

“Of course.”

Jaehyun left his office and closed the door behind him as he noticed Johnny who was walking down the corridor with his usual coffee mug in hands. The sleeves of his white shirt all rolled up he seemed to be on break and as he saw how Doyoung was taking off his suit jacket in Jaehyun’s office and bending over the dead body, Jaehyun could see the questions forming behind Johnny’s forehead.

But he was in no time or mood to answer any follow up questions. He needed to think. Of course Johnny knew what had happened the day before so he wouldn’t as him _why_ Lucas was dead and before he could say anything Jaehyun took the floor.

“I need you to get me a solution.”

Johnny looked at him for a fraction of a second, then nodded.

“Of course.”

By the time Jaehyun turned the corner at the end of the hallway busy getting away from it all just for a few hours, the two men already had gotten to work.

***

June sat in her office and was crunching numbers on a minor problem which has been bothering her for days now. She was smart. Yet there were problems that even kept her awake more than one night.

A quick glance at the filigrane watch on her wrist told her it was way past 11 pm and she could lightheartedly call it a day.

She _could_. But she also _knew_ he would stop by tonight and she had to be there. Working. As she always did.

So she got back to it.

Just a few moments later the door opened without a knock first and he stepped in. June must have been so consumed by the paperwork that she didn’t see him coming.

“I am sorry I have to keep you’ll have to work overtime but something came up and I-“

Jaehyun began but she shut him up by waving with a heavy file. 

“Already done. I won’t let you give me even more overtime.”

“Did they already tell you?” He blinked and took the file from her.

June nodded. “Haechan is my assistant and Johnny is a chatterbox - of course I know. I also watched the news earlier and you were right. The feds found crudities in their company’s paperwork. Taxes or something.”

They looked at each other for a short while.

 _He knows._ She thought. _And still he won’t say anything or apologize because that is not who he is. And he knows that is not who I am._

Jaehyun cleared his throat and went with the fingers through his hair. 

“Thank you.” He made a small movement with the hand in which he was holding the file. “To all of you. Do you know if Johnny is already done as well?”

She shook her head as she got up and grabbed her purse and coat.

“The list of suitable candidates is already on your desk and I believe Taeil is already looking for a way to fix the actual problem. You go get yourself some sleep, you look horrible.”

“I can’t go home yet.”

“I know. I said ‘get some sleep’ and not ‘go home’.”


	2. illustrator

“May I get you some tea?” Doyoung asked kindly but weirdly nervously as he held the door open for her.

“Err … sure. Thank you.” She answered taking a seat in the one guest office chair the room had to offer. She sat down at the very edge of it.

“Mr. Jung will be here shortly.” With those words he closed the door behind him and went to the small kitchen the entire office shared. He shoved away the half empty take-out boxes one of his nasty coworkers had left there from the night before and filled water into the electric kettle. By far the most used gadget in this kitchen.

On the way back to his boss’ office he ran into Johnny. A wide grin forming on his face the closer they got to each other.

“You’re making her tea?” 

Doyoung huffed. “I was told to offer her tea.” Holding the fragile blue tea cup with both hands he tried to ignore the tall brunette and just walk past him.

“Who told you to? Jaehyun?” He asked excitedly and followed him, making sure not to be get rid of.

Doyoung sighed. Johnny was getting on his nerves a lot lately. It actually seemed to him as if making his time at work as unbearable as possible. The way he just walked around the office and never seemed to be working on _anything_ was making Doyoung develop a certain type of headache that now always kicked in when he saw his coworker.

“Don’t you have work to do?” He asked grumpily, still trying to get rid of him.

“Nah, not right now. Besides this is much more interesting and she is sort of my work, no?”

Doyoung rolled his eyes at that question. “She is one of the candidates you selected after the incident.”

“She is the _top_ candidate.” Johnny said proudly as if that was somehow his doing.

“That’s honestly something I can’t imagine.”

“Why not?”

They walked the last bits to the office together and Johnny now looked through the shutters, trying to get a glimpse of the woman inside.

“She is kind of missing the edge? Weirdly normal. It’s hard to imagine she is supposed to be the best in her field. And" Doyoung paused. "... so different from June.”

“You mean she’s not freaking scary?”

Doyoung shuddered. “Exactly. It’s weird.”

Johnny chuckled sneerily. “You should know not all women are as cray-cray as our dear June. Something you would have noticed by now if you would be _interested_ in women.”

The headache got worse.

“Please just get lost already.”

“Just one more thing.”

Doyoung was close to tears. “What is it?”

“Where did you get that mug from?”

“Pardon me?”

“That cup you’re holding. It’s not one of the few I brought for everyone.”

“You mean the filthy ones you never wash up and that slowly start to reek of coffee?”

Johnny blinked offendedly. “They are supposed to do that! It’s a patina!”

“Coffee is not supposed to have a patina that’s just utter bullshit and besides, you never wash them or put them in the dishwasher so how or why are we going to use them even if we wanted to?”

“Are you saying no-one is using them?”

"Of course not! Everyone has their own."

"Their own cups??"

“Of course.” Doyoung knocked on the door to Jaehyun’s office. “We’re grown up people. We have our own mugs.”

***

The way this man looked at her gave her chills. For a few minutes he was sitting across the room behind the desk, monitoring her breath or god knows what.

To be honest: She had no idea what she was doing here. This _was_ a job interview but she didn’t know what position for or how they heard of her. She just moved to the city a few months ago and since then she laid pretty low for quite a handful of reasons.

And then a few days ago there was this letter between the usual junk mail, inviting her for this interview.

A knock on the door teared her from her thoughts and the man didn’t even look up as he commanded: “Come in.”

The other employee from before walked in and handed her the tea he promised and left the room as quiet and quick as he entered it.

Now holding the cup in her hands she took a sip and nervously rubbed her thumb against the rim.

“Your name is Song, right? At least that is your alias if I am not mistaken.”

Song choked on her tea. _How does he know?_ She coughed. “Excuse me?”

“It says here”, he pointed with an expensive looking pen at the open file in front of him. “your alias is Song. Is that not correct?”

“No.” Her voice was shaking just ever so slightly. “That’s correct.”

The man smiled softly. “Great. I am Jung Jaehyun. Nice to meet you.”

Song honestly doubted how nice it was to meet her but she kindly replied to the phrase.

Jaehyun relaxed a little in his chair and kept eyeing her. “What is the alias for? What do you do?”

She frowned confusedly. “You invited me for a job interview and don’t know what I do?”

He chuckled. “I know what you do. I just want to hear it from you. How you would describe it.”

Looking down at the cup and the tea’s surface she took two seconds to think. “I am an illustrator. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts I became a self-employed illustrator.”

“What are you drawing for?”

“Children’s books.”

“Righ, right. A decent occupation of a respectable young woman. How nice.” He had a look at the file in front of him and turned a few pages. Just now Song wondered why he had such a huge file with information about her.

She once again looked down at her reflection on the tea and noticed how striking the resemblance was between the cup she was holding in her hands right now and the one in the cupboard at home.  
“I have to say, excuse me for putting it this way, for a young lady of more or less stable income you have a quiet expensive taste.”

“Expensive taste?” What was he saying? Of course she did break out the formal wear for this occasion but the turtleneck and the checkered straight leg pants she was wearing were far away from being considered expensive. Yes, she had a certain wardrobe that would leave her dear late-parents shocked but what she did with their financial legacy was her very private business, right? So what the hell was he saying?

“In art. The apartment you’re living in isn't the highest in rent and not the best in location either but the paintings hanging on those very walls certainly have me wondering why you didn’t choose a better place? One who can collect such delicate pieces of art must be well off financially. Though I can’t see anything of it in your financial records.”

A small red light lit up inside of her head which let her know it was high time to leave. But something about this man and the way he was talking to her made her stay. Jaehyun obviously knew a shit ton about her but yet he asked her about her job as if he didn’t already know. 

“I am sorry but, I’m a bit confused.” Song decided it was time to drop the mask of the young respectable illustrator. She sat up a bit straighter and leaned forward, putting the cup down on the small table beside her.

“I know what I do for a living and you know what I do for a living. You know my alias and you know where I live. So would you please just tell me why I am here? Is this about the national historic museum three months ago?”

Jaehyun smiled as if he finally got what he wanted. “I heard about that but no, I am not involved in it so it’s not the reason you’re here. If I understand correctly you paint commissions?”

“I do.”

“Wrong.” He said, now leaning forward as well, elbows on the table top. “You forge art and have people pay you to do it. And you’re good.”

Song looked him directly into the eyes. 

“So good in fact, that you sometimes produce two copies. One with the purpose to replace the original in the museum. The other one with the purpose to fool your customers and make them pay your horrend commission fees.”

“So you ordered me here to … do what exactly? If you want me to forge something for you or paint you something nice for your office you could have contacted me in the official way. Well, as official as it gets.”

He laughed once again and by this time Song began to ask again what was so funny about her. Or did he just not take her seriously?

“To be quite frankly: I want you to work for me.”

“Fine.” She answered brusquely and got up. “I’m sure if you were able to find out so many things about me one could write a novel about it, you will be able to contact me the way my clients usually do.”

Before she made the first step towards the door he said just as calm as he has been the entire time: “I want you to work for me _exclusively_ as part of the company. Not as a one time thing but permanently.”

She stopped. 

“I have been looking for someone like you for quite some time now but you’re the first suitable candidate.”

 _It’s a lie._ She thought to herself. _That can’t be the truth._

“So your way of asking me to work for you is to order me here and serve me tea in _my own_ cup you got as a souvenir from breaking into my apartment?”

“It’s very effective, is it not? Also, one can only imagine what it feels like to fool the feds instead of a wealthy dentist or lawyer. To forge a real old master instead of some small 600 bucks wannabe fine artist.”

Song walked up to the door and already had one hand on the handle but his next sentence made her stay.

“Maybe it’s just me but something like the heist we’re going for would certainly gain you a" He paused to choose his words wisely. " _proper_ reputation. What feeling must it be to have someone look at the pieces in your flat and not just think ‘this one must be financially well off’ but _very_ well off?”

She kept staring at the heavy wooden door, had him talking to her back.

“And just for the record: All of my employees have their own mugs.”

She took a deep breath and turned around. Her initial anger was gone.

“Well I guess then you can keep it right where it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Enjoy~
> 
> No back-ups and no pity.  
> ಠ_ಠ  
> Skaidridt  
> [Let's chat!](https://twitter.com/Skaidridt1)


	3. intuition

“So this is where you keep them.” Johnny said and made Haechan jump as he reached for the cupboard in the far back of the small room.

“Sweet Jesus, Johnny! Why?” The younger employee turned around just now noticing his coworker who sat in the corner, sleeves rolled up and legs crossed. He smiled.

“Since I heard from Doyoung how no-one uses the mugs I supplied the office so generously with I had to find out where all of you keep the _personal_ mugs.” He painted the last adjective with as much disgust as possible.

Haechan, who managed to survive the small heart attack Johny had given him, grinned. “It’s just that this isn’t where we store the cups. It’s where we store the tea. Which you would know, if you wouldn’t only live off coffee.”

Johnny grunted. “Alright then just tell me where the hell you keep them, I really need to know! I’m trying to find out for almost two weeks now.”

The secretary shrugged. “We keep them at our desks. June stores hers somewhere in her office and I’m not sure if Jaehyun even drinks tea or coffee but I bet he has his in his office as well.”

Johnny deflated. “I really hate it here.”

“You sure do.” Haechan mocked his overly dramatic behavior and decided to go with it. “This a whole new level of office betrayal towards you.”

“Speaking of which,” Still remaining seated Johnny scanned Haechan from head to toe with searching eyes. “why do you look so neglected?”

“ _Neglected_?” He stopped making tea just to look at Johnny with his brow frowned. “What about me looks neglected??”

“Your clothes! I’m not giving you free fashion advice for you to sleep on it. Where is the tiepin?”  
Haechan responded brusquely: “I don’t own one.” And Johnny let out a small unbelieving laughter.

“Who are you? The secretary?”

The sassy comeback Haechan was thinking of just this second, died on the tip of his tongue as June entered the kitchen and answered Johnny’s question for him.

“He _is_ my secretary. At least he is if his job description did not change in the last 10 minutes he wasn’t at his desk. And are you really expecting him to wear a tie pin when he doesn’t even wear a tie 4 out of 7 days a week?”

“Maybe that’s why he’s only a secretary. And by the way why am I not getting an assistant?” Johnny complained more to himself than anyone in particular.

“You don’t even have enough work to keep yourself busy. Speaking of which, why are you still here? It’s not as if your workload requires you to work overtime. It’s the middle of the night you could be home sleeping.”

He smiled widely. “To keep y’all company.”

June placed her cup in the sink and turned around. As always by this time of the night she had her sleeves rolled up and the filigrane golden watch dangling from her wrist. She had tied her hair back in a low ponytail and tucked behind the ears.

“Yeah sure, because we’re always so thrilled to see you.” 

“Is Doyoung still here as well or is it just us?” Haechan chimed in. He took the seat on the opposite side of the small table where Johnny was sitting. 

Overall it was really interesting to observe how everyone’s sense of fashion declined as the light of day faded. 

Johnny who, with a few exceptions, always wore a suit at the office had tossed the jacket aside hours ago and rocked his usual loose tie pencil behind the ear thing. He as well had the sleeves rolled up, tucked messily under the black sleeve holders.

As for Haechan everyone was weirdly happy he was dressed _appropriately_. Even if not very fashionable. For a fact Johnny was actually giving him honest fashion advice for quite some time now but it took a lot of work and convincing before Haechan would follow any of those.

Johnny stretched and yawned. “I think he’s at Taeil’s. I saw him leaving earlier.”

“Is the new one still here? What was her name again …”

Haechan’s superiors answered with one voice: “Song.” And then looked at each other. The secretary noticed none of which.

“Where does she work? Now that I think of it I don’t even know. There aren’t any empty offices left on this floor and as far as I understand we’re still not using the third floor.”

“I think it’s the old storage room beneath the roof. The one we kept the files before Jaehyun made us go through them and transfer them.”

“Did one of you guys even see her since she started here?”

June and Haechan looked at Johnny, thinking about his question and then all reached the silent agreement that in fact they didn’t.

***

The three of them stood in front of the dusty old door which blocked the path to the storage room. Except it wasn’t as dusty as it used to be and light spread from behind the door onto the floor beneath their feet.

“So … are we just going in?” Johnny asked, moving up and down on his toes, eyeing June. Something about her presence always made him refer to her as the person in charge. Or at least assume she was the one with a plan. Maybe it’s because she not just looked great in YSL but looked more like owning the entire brand.

“Of course.” She said and knocked on the door three times and before the men at her side could respond with anything, the door opened and Song showed up in front of them.

“Yes? Oh, it’s you. Whoever you are.” The woman behind the door was shorter than June, matching the Height of Johnny’s chin so that she had to look up to ⅔ of the group. The fact that Haechan was the shortest member of the party did not seem to bother her at all.

She had her hair tugged back the same way June wore hers and the messy bangs fell into her face randomly. The white oversized dress shirt she was wearing didn’t have a single spot of color on it, just like the straight leg jeans. As she looked from one face to the next Johnny noticed small and subtle earrings dangling and peeking through the dark straight hair.

June gave the young woman one of her rare smiles. The ones even Haechan barely got to see and Johnny had never encountered before.

“We are your coworkers. I’m sorry for barging in on you like this at this hour but since Jaehyun didn’t bother to introduce you to us we thought we should come by and say hi. May we come in?”

Song opened the door wide enough for the three people to enter the room and closed it behind them. 

Johnny looked around as soon as he stepped in, wondering if the room had always been this big. Then he remembered how one couldn’t see the other side of it at the time it was still the storage for years of paperwork and shrugged. He also remembered how much he hated coming to this former very dusty place.

Instead of being filled with files, shelves and boxes the chamber now resembled an apartment. A rather shitty one but it still had everything one needed to get by. Even windows. Though he couldn’t remember having seen them before.

This place having been turned into a studio/apartment solved the mystery about why they didn’t see her down in the office. Haechan asked himself if she was even leaving work to go home or if she just crashed in here.

Song walked up to the kitchen which was situated right next to the door and turned around facing them while leaning against the counter. “Can I get you anything?”

“Actually-” Haechan began but June broke him off mid-sentence. 

“We just had coffee so we’re good thank you.”

They all looked at each other. Song eyed the intruders carefully, facing three strangers in her atelier.

June was watching her interestedly, searching for every single little detail that would give her a bit more information about her. Anything that wasn’t written in the staff file was important and couldn’t be missed.

Johnny on the other hand wasn’t scanning her as carefully as June but he now fully understood what Doyoung meant when he told him last week about how Song was different to June. This woman seemed so … harmless. Sitting in her studio painting all day long. Somehow managing to stay clean … they both were very similar but then again so different.

Meanwhile Song, June and Johnny stared at each other, Haechan was the only one not taking part in his apparent group activity and scanned the room for a toilet. He really shouldn’t have had that tea earlier.

“So… who are you?” Song asked, not moving an inch from her position.

“I’m June.” She said, deciding to briefly introduce them before one of her male teammates could rush into hastily giving out sensitive information. Yes, they all were meant to be a team and work together as a whole but whether they would do or not was still up to them. Trusting each other was something Jaehyun couldn’t decide for them.

“I do most of the paperwork in this company and pretty much everything runs through my hands at some point. That’s Haechan, he’s my assistant/secretary and the dense looking himbo here is Johnny.” 

With those words she put a hand on his shoulder and made him snap out of stare at Song who seemingly did not notice he was.

“To be honest I don’t even know what’s his task at hand. I feel like no-one does.”

Johnny turned his head towards June. “I can’t believe how bad you’re making me look, why do you always do that?”

June smiled at him which sent a cold shiver down his spine. “Because it’s easy.”

“And because you deserve it.” Haechan chimed in and continued this time turning to Song: “I’m really sorry but where is the restroom?”

Both June and Johnny looked at Haechan with the most confused faces about that last remark but Song just pointed to the back of the studio where Haechan ran off to quickly.

“This is so weird”, Johnny stated and laughed a bit embarrassed. “We just came to get to know you a bit since we’re …” He ran out of words and looked at June for help.

“... are a bunch of notorious criminals about to steal, forge and replace art worth a few millions of dollars?”

“I was going to say ‘coworkers’ but yeah that too.”

Song chuckled. “No no, it’s alright I get it.” She sighed. “We have to get to know each other. Relying on other people is a big part of the job and it’s necessary to pull the whole thing off successfully. I just didn’t make it downstairs yet because I have to finish another piece for my last client before I can start working on the _new commissions_.”

She pointed at the easel near the window. And the two people followed her gesture. 

“May I?” June asked and approached it with her heels clicking on the floor with every step, as Song nodded.

She looked at the painting for a minute in silence before she said: “Now this is delicate. I can see why you chose her.”

Johnny looked up to find Song looking at him and June still examining the work.

“ _’Chose me’_? What exactly does that mean?” A pinch of suspicion mixed into her tone, as Song rose an eyebrow.

June chuckled. “One of the according to him ‘many things’ he does is recruitment. Though it’s the only thing I saw him doing in a while.”

Johnny looked from Song, who was staring at him, to June, who was still paying full attention to the painting, and cursed his coworker once more this evening wondering why the hell he made her look so bad. She truly was mean.

Song pushed away from the counter and crossed the room between her and Johnny with a few big steps, just to stop right in front of him. “Were you the one breaking into my apartment?” She asked, suddenly shooting daggers from her eyes that had Johnny raise both his hands in surprise.

“No! I did not. Well, I was asked to do it but I was busy that day, so Doyoung did it.”

As quickly as her temper flared up, it cooled down again and she took a step back from Johnny, returning to a conventional and appropriate distance. 

“The one with the tea?”

“Jaehyun made Doyoung offer you tea?” June asked, done silently marveling at Song’s work.

“He did.” Haechan piped up, finally returning from his restroom journey. “He even used her own cup.” He looked at Johnny as he added: “The one he made Doyoung steal from her apartment.”

“He did what?” Johnny exclaimed, fully forgetting where he was and why they came there now solemnly thinking about how he would confront Jaehyun about this.

June straightened her back and linked arms with both of the men. “That’s our cue. Again, I’m sorry we barged in on you like this.”

She walked towards the door, dragging the guys with her. “You should come down from time to time and visit us.”

Song followed this weird group with her eyes, unsure if she should laugh about this or just wonder about those strange people. 

“Same goes for you. My door is more or less always open.”

Haechan chimed a quick ‘see ya!’ over his shoulder before June could kick the door shut with her heel and shove them into the elevator.

The doors closed behind them.

“What the hell was that??” Johnny exclaimed, as the small car started moving. 

Haechan laughed. “Did you really want to scare her with your weird obsession about this company and everyone’s personal mugs? I for my part think it was a good call. A little bit rushed but a good call.”

The car went down and as they passed floor after floor the boys went on bickering about this and that. About how Haechan has no taste in fashion and how Johnny should mind his own business and should go see a therapist about his fetish for crockery.

June stood between them, decided to have her own thoughts on the matter. _Yeah sure, his cutlery obsession is one reason. Though there is also the way he couldn’t stop staring at her and how she didn’t notice it. But I’m not going to tell either one of you until you notice it yourself._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, life's been busy.  
> Or rather _is_ busy.
> 
> Anyway: Enjoy and let me know what you think!
> 
> No back-ups and no pity.  
> ಠ_ಠ  
> Skaidridt  
> [Let's chat!](https://twitter.com/Skaidridt1)


	4. professionalism

“Did you solve your problem yet?” Johnny asked and fell into the armchair.

His boss sat on the other side of the office, hunched over a remarkable stack of paperwork. “Problem?” He asked without looking up.

“The … uh … _thing_ that came up a few weeks ago.” Johnny said carefully, not sure if he really forgot about the incident.

“Oh, so you’re not talking about yourself.” One could hear Jaehyun’s smile even if it wasn’t visible. Especially if one’s name was Johnny.

“Why would I refer to myself as a problem?”

“Because you always show up when I'm busy and steal my time.”

“By doing what?”

“By talking to me and not working like everyone else.” He said and finally looked up from his paperwork, smiling.

Johnny sighed. “You suck real bad. Did you know that?”

“I’ve been told, yeah. Honestly tho, what problem are you talking about? There are so many lately.” 

Jaehyun leaned back in his chair, crossed his fingers behind his head and put his feet up, looking at his oldest friend.

“The one that dropped dead on your floor.” Johnny scoffed and yawned. Once again it was one of those days they were working late, which basically described every other day in their field of work.

Every single one of them had spent at least a few nights in their office, which is why they all kept travel kits at their desks somewhere.

“Oh.” Jaehyun said and his relatively good mood faded within seconds. “That one.”

“I assume it is _as always_ more serious than you’re telling us right?”

“I don’t need to tell you how serious it is. Everyone working here is qualified enough to know that for themselves. And if they don’t I should consider replacing them. But yes, it is gravely serious. It could ruin the entire project.”

“And I assume you found a solution?”  
Jaehyun nodded and took down his hands, resting them on his core. 

“I did. And I will schedule a meeting as soon as it is set in stone.”

“As always. I’m here now so why don’t you walk me through it?” Johnny offered casually while playing around with the end of his tie.

“I’m really busy …”

Johnny snorted. “Dude, I don’t care. I haven’t talked to you in ages about work let alone anything non-work related. And if business talk is the only talk I get these days I will take whatever you got.”

“Fine. The solution we came up with involves Taeil.”

Johnny suddenly sat up straight in the armchair and looked at his friend in a very confused way.

“Taeil? I thought you decided against using the hostesses.”

“True. We won’t use BARbara. But Taeil is the one who came up with the back-up plan.” 

Jaehyun paused to lean forward, leafing through his calendar looking for a specific event. 

“On the uh … 4th he’s meeting with the owner of a few high class restaurants. Something japanese. To be honest I neither met the guy yet nor have I heard about his restaurants but Taeil apparently knows him for quite some time and I trust him. After they meet up and where he introduces him to _the idea_ , we will schedule another meeting in which we discuss the specifics.”

“I thought you don’t want to involve more people than necessary? Why are you suddenly considering working with someone you don’t know? This seems chancy.”

“Because”, he began and groaned. “the original plan was the most irresponsible imbecile I’ve met in my career so far and whoever Taeil is talking to in two weeks can’t be worse. I don’t know if you noticed but we don’t have that much time left. And I told all of you before that we’re only doing it if we find a way to clean the money.” 

“You did tell us that. Several times. But we always reassured you that we would do it even if you don’t know how to launder the money beforehand. Because we trust you.”

Jaehyun sighed and rested his head in the palms of his hands. “You shouldn’t tho.”

The other shrugged and got up. “We know. But we do against your better judgement.”

“You’re going home?” Jaehyun looked at him in surprise.

“What? No.” He chuckled. “I’m working late, boss. As always.”

***

“Someone home?” Johnny stuck the head through the door as he opened it carefully.

“Come on in!” Song shouted from the back of the studio, her voice weirdly muffled.

So he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, looking around for her but couldn’t find her. 

The studio didn’t change much since the last time he visited. The dishes were clean and put up to dry, right next to it was a small stash of toiletries. 

Everything looked fine and even more in order than Haechan’s cubicle so why did Jaehyun want him to come up here and check on her? And besides, why didn’t he just do it himself?

He shuffled across the room to take a closer look at the easel and the prints that were spread out on the huge wobbly table alongside with a variety of … ingredients and colors. The canvas was smudged with a mix of brown and green tones. 

By this point of progress Johnny wasn’t able to see any resemblance or how the hell this would turn into what was on the prints.

“Oh. It’f you.” 

Hearing her voice behind him he turned around to see Song in sweatpants and some threadborne sweatshirt. Just now he realized how late it must have been once again, since Song was brushing her teeth and didn’t bother to take out the toothbrush while talking to him.

“If I knew y’all would take the ‘come by anytime’ fo literally I wouldn’t have faid it.”

“Did someone else come by?”

She nodded and walked over to spit out toothpaste and put away the toothbrush. “Yeah. Haechan came to see me the day before yesterday. And Doyoung yesterday.”

“What did he want?” Johnny asked a little bit too hastily which made her turn around.

“Who?”

“Doyoung.”

The conversation forming between them was clipped and terse but not at all in an uncomfortable way.

“He brought the prints.” She said pointing at the table. “It’s a really good quality and very clean. You can literally see every little detail on it. Did you have a look?”

“Yeah, I did just now. Why was Haechan here?”

Since they were still standing around all dressed up and with nowhere to go, Song just walked over to the sofa and dropped down on it, grabbing a pillow to hold in her arms.

“Nothing too important. He just wanted to know how I am doing. Speaking for what reasons people are showing up here all the time: Why did you come?”

He pulled up the stool she was using to sit on while painting and sat across from her, one arm resting on the table and shrugged.

“Same reason. Just wanted to say ‘hi’.”

“Well, you did that. Something else?”

Johnny chuckled more to himself than to Song. Why wasn’t he able to figure her out? Since she was employed he caught himself wondering what the hell she was doing here and how she ended up being their coworker.

“Have you ever sat one foot on our floor?” He asked trying to change the topic but Song was quick.

She thought for a moment leaning her head to one side, then shaking it. “Why would I? Everyone is coming upstairs anyways. I don’t really have to leave this place.”

“Touche.”

Silence settled between them during which Song scanned the man carefully and Johnny tried to not curse himself for coming here. Nice gestures never were a thing at this company so why did he thought it would be a good idea to start being nice?

_Right._ He though. It was about what Doyoung said and how right he turned out to be. The girl … _woman_ sitting across from him didn’t really fit in with all of them. And even though he corrected his thoughts from girl to woman he couldn’t deny that there certainly was something fairly young about her. She definitely looked her age and she probably had both whit and sass but … something didn’t add up.

“Do you want to drink? Something?” Song suddenly asked and got up.

Johnny jumped to his feet as well and gladly said: “Yes, please!”

***

Song chucked the last sip of wine and lowered her glass. Johnny reached for it to replenish her drink for the fourth time but she quickly covered with both hands.

“No no no, I’m good.” She laughed.

They both sat in front of the sofa, legs crossed and leaning against it. He had no idea of how long they had been sitting together like this but two hours probably already had passed since he got here.

“Are you sure?” He asked sliding the bottle of white wine back into the cooler.

“Yes. Absolutely. This is actually way more than I usually have. If you have questions you only want honest answers to: Ask them now.” She stated jokingly and waved away her sobriety.

Johnny laughed. “Okay, let me think.”

When he wasn’t saying anything for a few seconds she turned her head to look at him and found him actually thinking about what he wanted to ask her.

Song curiously and patiently waited for him to ask:

“What do you think of Panoma?”

Their eyes met and she could see how serious his question was. He really wanted her honest opinion about the company and/or the people working here.

“Well”, Song began but hesitated. “about the people or more about the entire thing?”

“Whatever you want.”

She sighed. “To be honest: I don’t think this is for me.”

Johnny’s eyes widened at an answer he didn’t expect at all. “What does that mean?”

“See, I feel like you all know each other so well. Yeah, sure I am the new one and y’all don’t know me and we don’t have a history but I am not sure if we _will_ get along well eventually. And this is just the case for getting along _well_. Not exceptionally well or being a great team. Whatever that involves.”

He put down his wine glass ready to give her his unshared attention. This seemed to have bothered her for a while. “What exactly makes you think that?”

“This might sound weird but … to me you all seem like criminals.”

“You aren’t exactly whitecollar either. I chose your file out of 20 others because I like to think of you as someone who screws people over twice. First time by forging art and replacing it and the second time when you keep the original to yourself.”

“But compared to you that’s nothing.” She said, using one the one hand that wasn’t still holding the empty glass to empathize the arguments. “You are professional criminals. Working in a _company_ devoted to launder money and steal shit. This is _organized crime_. What I do … every art-school graduate could do it. It all comes down to very basic things.”

Johnny sighed. “What makes you think you don’t fit in?”

She sat on her knees, putting aside the glass she was holding up until this moment and looked him directly into the eyes.

“I don’t know? Jaehyun is super scary and June is so … flawless? Doyoung seems a bit odd and I don’t know what to think of you but you are professionals. You work in an office, wear ties and suits, do paperwork, crunch numbers, have desks with files on them.”

“Is that how you define professionalism? That we appear to be harmless office employees but aren’t?”

Song nodded quietly.

“Under the pretext of commonplace?”

“Yes.”

There she was again. The girl Song that seemed so innocent and harmless as if she couldn’t hurt nobody and has no criminal record. As if they were two different personalities sharing one shell.

Johnny chuckled and suddenly the dramatic tension that had built up in the studio imploded and disappeared.

“I don’t mean to offend you personally but that’s very naive of you to think. Romanticizing our field of work is what writers do. And I have to ask you to neither put June nor Jaehyun on a pedestal because those two ain’t perfect. Also they’re not the cold and calculating professionals you think they are. “

He saw her face and immediately backtracked. “Don’t get me wrong: Both are evil masterminds and exceptionally at their jobs. But they have their flaws.” He leaned back. “Did you hear about Lucas?”

“Who’s that?”

“He used to work here before we hired you.”

“Why past tense?”

“He … quit. That aside: Lucas and June had an affair that was going on for quite a while if I remember correctly.”

Song gasped and choked. All Johnny did was laughing at her gasping which made things worse.

“Does everyone know?” She asked after catching her breath and being pat on the back by Johnny.

“I’m not sure but I assume at least Haechan does know. Nothing really goes past him. If you want to know things in the future I suggest you ask him.”

He returned to the semi serious attitude he had about himself for the entire evening as he said: “But my point is: Even though I don’t know if there were feelings involved or what exactly their arrangement was, it is what it is. An affair between two coworkers. And if that’s not the epitome of non-professionalism - I don’t know what is.“


	5. occupation

The people working at Panoma were as different as they could possibly be. There were only a few things they all had in common and one of these things was the love for _Bar_ bara. Pretty much every Panoma employee was coming here at least twice a week and it wasn’t just because the place was run by their close friend Taeil but also because Taeil was offering the two most appealing things humankind knew about: Booze and Girls.

Even though the ladder only appeared to about 95% of Panama's personnel, at least one half of the 5% was a regular at _Bar_ bara herself and June was in no way inferior to her male colleagues. 

Perhaps she liked _Bar_ bara for other reasons than maybe Doyoung or Johnny but she liked it. The money they spend on girls, she invested in drinks. Every time she came here she remembered how important this was to her. Just like now.

Taeil was part of the Panoma team from the very beginning. In fact he had already been there when June joined the company so wasn’t really able to tell how he got there or what he was doing before he became a male madam. All she knew was that the lady who used to run the place was the _actual_ Barbara but she never got to meet her just once.

That in mind June sometimes wondered what the place had looked like before it was passed on to her friend. The premises were located on the first floor above a copy shop a few blocks from their office. Which made it reachable and a place to go for a drink after work. Or for something else to do after work.

Taeil once told her that he refurbished the whole space except the bar. According to him it was hard to arrange the counter, drinks and shelves in an actually effective way and when he first started working here it was the first thing catching his attention: How easy it was to operate behind the counter and how everything was at the most ideal place possible. So he decided to keep it this way and it remains the same until today.

“I heard you helped out the big boss.” June stated, sitting on one of the high stools, stirring in her drink.

Taeil just showed up again after picking something off the floor. “Pardon me?” 

She chuckled. “I said: I heard you helped out Jaehyun with something?”

He grinned. “Please, you don’t need to act as if you don’t know. I’m aware he’s telling you everything.”

June shrugged. “Not everything.”

“You know, even though Doyoung is officially his boy for everything and Johnny’s acting as his right hand, _you’re_ the one he tells things.”

“Speaking of which-” June turned around as she spotted Doyoung from the corner of her eye. “There is our boy for everything!” 

She grinned at him widely, watching him approaching with a woman closely following him.

“How’s it going pal?” June asked and thrived on the annoyed look he responded with. 

Doyoung might not like being teased but if he would be serious about that he surely wouldn’t make it so damn easy for her.

“You do remember you have work tomorrow? That means _getting out of bed on time_.” She reminded him, her voice raised, as they walked past her.

Doyoung didn’t stop as he answered “You just go fuck yourself.” and disappeared with his usual hostess to the usual room.

June scoffed and mumbled into her glass “I would still be doing a better job than any guy I had lately.”

Taeil laughed. The Panoma people not just became friends to him, after years of being loyal customers, but some of them turned this place into his home away from home. And June was one of the people he got so close with he would consider her a sister.

“To answer your question: Yes I did.”

She looked up. “Did what?”

Taeil sighed and leaned forward. “I helped out Jaeyhun with this problem of yours.”

“So I was right. He didn’t tell me anything but I had a feeling.”

“Someone had to. Your boyfriend left quite a void we had to fill. That was some hell of a talk we had the other day and I’m glad we came up with something.”

June’s lively vibes died the second Taeil not only mentioned Lucas but also called him her _boyfriend_. She hated it when people knew better and still don’t care.

“He wasn’t my boyfriend. How many times do I have to tell you? I thought you would especially get it.”

“Why?” Taeil scoffed and handed a drink to one of his employees. The woman had just walked up to the bar and left with the drinks in her hand, without wasting a thought about the two of them or what they were talking about. “Because I own and run a hostess bar _I_ would know about you don’t catch feelings for anyone?”

“Yes?”

“Honey, exactly _because_ I do what I do and see what I see I _know_ how it looks like.”

Now it was her turn to scoff. “And that makes you an expert about what I feel?”

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that I saw how you were letting yourself go just a little bit. People who didn’t know you wouldn’t have noticed.”

“But you do know me, huh?”

He smiled. “I imagine I know you quite well. I learned a lot about you the past few years and I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“Well”, June said and chugged the last bit of her drink: “I’m sorry to tell you you’re mistaken if you think i could actually have cared about Lucas.” 

She got up and grabbed her purse. “The only thing I cared about by that time was how the hell we were going to fix the catastrophe he caused and how we would be able to pull off everything we’ve worked for. To think a man - no - a _fling_ was more important to me than the actual cause is foolish of you and you should know better. Good night.”

***

He dearly enjoyed her presence.

In this place of dozens of women it seemed to him as if she was the only sane one.

Compared to some of her coworkers she wasn’t actually pretty in a way which only meant she wasn’t hitting every single beauty standard society had come up with.

But she was ticking all the correct boxes for him. Her face was symmetrical but it looked like someone started to draw a portrait with a lot of motivation but lost track halfway through the process. And she knew that.

But instead of trying to cover it up or undergo plastic surgery she wore it with pride. Anong was never wearing heavy make-up and at some point Doyoung wasn’t sure if she even knew how to put it on.

In any case: He prefered her this way. Natural and approachable. 

He was seeing her for almost 2 years every time he visited _Bar_ bara and he enjoyed her company up to this day. She made sure to always book the very same room beforehand when she knew he was visiting. Anong could sense how important consistency was to him.

“You know I’m discreet.” She said carefully and sat up. Anong never bothered to cover up her chest with the sheets or anything. Doyoung had once asked her about it and by that time she just laughed it off, replying that he had seen it anyway so why bother?  
Doyoung nodded at her question, calmly smiling and responded: “I know. That’s why I like you.”

“And you also know I am not into gossip. At all.”

He nodded again. “I know.” By now he could sense something was weighing heavy on her shoulders and he was impressed how well she hid the entire time they spent together this evening.

Anong rubbed her arm and avoided his eyes for a sheer second before taking the courage to ask: 

“I am not asking this for myself but” She looked up meeting his gaze. “why has Lucas not been around for a while?”

Doyoung pushed parts of the sheets aside to sit up a little bit more straight. “What do you mean exactly?”

She tugged her hair behind her ears with both hands and took a deep breath.

"I'm asking this for two of the other girls. They are worried.”

“Honestly” He put up his hands. “I don’t know anything about his _habits_ and who he is seeing.”

Anong sighed. She could sense how his mood changed, even though his face didn’t and immediately regretted having brought it up. But she had no choice.

“That’s not what I mean. You know some of us have children who they have to provide for. Those girls, the ones he was seeing, they’re struggling. So bad. And I _need_ to tell them something. They know I am seeing you regularly so they keep asking me. They are my friends, please.”

The bagging tone rang out and made Doyoung get up and reach for his clothes. 

“I can’t tell you anything about work.” He said terse as he pulled up his pants. 

“I know but -" 

“I _can’t_ tell you anything about work.” He repeated with more emphasis and turned around. “If I were them I wouldn’t wait for him, there are plenty of other men out there.” 

Anong looked him directly in the eye and understood what he was saying to her even if he didn’t exactly put it into words. She also knew that he wasn’t mad at her in any way. He understood she had to ask and she understood that he couldn’t talk about it. His job was at stake. Maybe more. 

She watched him putting on his remaining clothes and eventually got up on her knees to check his tie. The rooms at _Bar_ bara didn’t have any mirrors for some weird reason so this became their little ritual because he hated looking sloppy. 

As he walked up to the door she carefully asked: “You got nothing to do with it, right?” 

Doyoung turned around, one hand on the door nod. “You know what I do for a living.” Then he paused, taking in the picture of the naked woman sitting on the disarranged sheets. This flawed woman that eventually got under his skin without him planning on it. 

“You’re not one of the ones with children, right?” 

Anong smiled softly. “You know what I do for a living.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> I'm back with a little something and hope it's not too short.  
> Please let me know what you think about the story and the people so far!  
> Reading your thoughts on this and maybe what's gonna happen soon is  
> by far the greatest motivation.
> 
> No back-ups and no pity.  
> ಠ_ಠ  
> Skaidridt  
> [Let's chat!](https://twitter.com/Skaidridt1)


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